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Archive for the ‘Frogging’ category

I realized today that I hate my bow scarf. The picture looked cute in the book, but there’s so little possibility that I would actually wear it that there’s no point in continuing to knit it. I’m glad I learned intarsia, though, because it came in handy tonight at my monthly knitting meeting. A new member asked me how to prevent holes in colorwork, and I was actually able to tell her. Go me!

I’d intended to get a decent amount of knitting done tonight,  and I think I succeeded. Of course, I probably would have accomplished more if I hadn’t received Walking Dead in the mail yesterday and decided to read the first 80 or so pages of that. Still, I’m pretty pleased with what I did do. For the next little bit (I hope), I’m going to be making the Alpaca Silk Bow Scarf from Boutique Knits (out of wool). I decided not to let the intarsia part of my new scarf scare me, so I Googled intarsia techniques until I felt like I understood what I was supposed to do (if not exactly how to do it), and plunged in. I’m going back to Continental knitting and doing the Norwegian Purl, so there’s all sorts of learning and adapting going on here. I had to frog twice; once because I still can’t count, and another time because my knitting was too loose. Luckily, I hadn’t done more than three rows either time, so it was no big loss. Seems like the third time is the charm, and I’m going to quit while I’m ahead here and get some rest!

Pattern: Alpaca Silk Bow Scarf

Source: Boutique Knits

Yarn: Lorna’s Laces Greenline DK in Grapevine and Lilac

Photo 14

Easy peasy!

I’m really concerned about how little trouble I am having with my revamped Monkey socks. I had started them in September, done a lot in a little time, and then got bored with all of the purling and stopped. Good thing.

It turned out that I had been knitting them backwards; I’d pushed the right side into my the space between my DPNs, and therefore was knitting the whole thing in reverse. Stupid, but it was still okay, at least until I went and did the heel inside out, too. Then I was all messed up. I frogged the whole thing, and started over again this Tuesday. Right now, I’m about to start decreasing, and I feel so much better about my skills as a knitter, and my ability to read and understand a pattern. Also, I got to practice my short row heels again and am really getting the hang of it now, which is awesome.

I can see why people keep making these socks again and again (the other day I met a woman who has made 5 pairs of Monkeys in a very short time). They’re cute, fun, and really easy, and I think I will make myself a pair soon, after I get through all of the obligatory knitting that I need to finish up.

I’m feeling a little smarter now. As I said I would, I put aside my OpArt blanket for a couple of days. I figured that approaching it with fresh eyes would be helpful, and that was definitely the case. For some reason, I was getting really perplexed about knitting on two circular needles, but now it is definitely making more sense to me. I think I just had to let it rattle around in my head for a bit. I frogged my OpArt for the second time, but this time it was because I had so much fun proving that I understood the methodology that I made way too many rounds with the four initial stitches. Before I frogged, I acquired a neat new skill: purling in the front and back of a stitch! I’ve done the opposite with my Jaywalker socks, and I’m glad that I’ve mastered it both ways.

Update: Here are a few images that kind of show how the two needles look and the directions in which the ends are facing.

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This is where the blanket is starting to get big, but you can see the ends of the needles pointing in different directions.

This is where the blanket is starting to get big, but you can see the ends of the needles pointing in different directions.

img_1255Later, with a lot more stitches, the directions of the needle ends are perhaps easier to see.

I get the OpArt pattern. So so well. And every time I frog it, the first set of stitches looks that much better. I think that maybe next time I’ll try a figure 8 cast on, see where it gets me. But the point is, I am not paying enough attention to what I’m doing. I’m wandering and watching all manner of ABC shows, and I miss this increase, or forget that second row of the stripe. Bad bad Nicole.

I’m gonna hit the hay now, and try all this tomorrow when I’m hopefully less distracted.

Weird

Okay, I have no idea when I became such a perfectionist. Usually pretty good is just fine with me, but for some reason, I cannot stand to have blatant (to me) imperfections on this sock. The person I’m giving this to really wouldn’t care if I had to go back after knitting it and tighten up a few holes, but I care. I looked at my heel, and could see how nice it would have been if I hadn’t forgotten to slip the first stitch a couple of times, and had to frog it. Okay, third time’s the charm, right?

Doh

My first attempt at my Monkeys was a little off. This is my first go round knitting lace, and I’m learning by the round, but I definitely effed things up. The cuff, which is always the easiest part of any sock, was not messed up, so I frogged back to that point and then tried not the make the same mistakes again. Here’s what I had before the frogging:

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As you can see, one of the holes on the fourth needle was not so much decorative as it was massive.

Luckily, this time I’m doing better. For one, I don’t have any craters in my sock. For another, I’m being consistent with my yarn overs (I was doing it wrong the first time, which is embarrassing, since I made an entire blanket that was full of yarn overs [unless those were wrong, too, but then at least they were all wrong in the same way]). Here’s the new and improved version:

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Looking at these pictures reminds me that I need to learn how to use the macro mode on my new camera…